Wisconsin

Preview: Wisconsin Closes Nonconference Schedule Hosting Detroit Mercy

Published

2 years ago

December 22, 2024

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Preview: Wisconsin Closes Nonconference Schedule Hosting Detroit Mercy

Detroit Mercy (5-8, 1-2 Horizon League) vs. Wisconsin (9-3, 0-2 Big Ten)

Date/Time – Sunday, December 22, 1 p.m.

Arena – Kohl Center (16,838)

Watch – Big Ten Network (Jeff Levering and Brian Butch)

Radio – Badgers Radio Network (Matt Lepay and Charlie Wills), Sirius 119 or 195, stream online on iHeartRadio.

Series – Wisconsin leads 3-0 (Wisconsin leads 3-0 in Madison)

Last Meeting – Wisconsin won, 68-42, on December 6, 2003, in Madison

Follow Online: The Badgers’ Den

Twitter: @Badger_Blitz

Betting line: Wisconsin -29.5

Projected Starting Five (Wisconsin)

Player to Watch: After averaging 2.4 points per game last season, Winter has improved to 10.6 ppg this year after scoring a career-high 20 vs. Butler. He leads UW in rebounds (5.6), offensive rebounds (23) and field goal percentage (.598).

Projected Starting Five (Detroit Mercy)

Player to watch: Leading the Titans with 16 points in Wednesday’s loss at Northern Kentucky, Lovejoy has been in double figures in nine of UDM’s 13 games. He leads the team in scoring, rebounding, assists, and steals (1.9).

Series Notes

Wisconsin’s average margin of victory in its three prior meetings with UDM is 18.3 points.

The last time Wisconsin and Detroit Mercy met was Dec. 6, 2003, when UW claimed a 68-42 win. Devin Harris and Freddie Owens led the Badgers with 13 points, with Harris adding nine assists.

Wisconsin is 72-4 all-time against teams in the Horizon League. Under head coach Greg Gard, the Badgers hold a 9-0 all-time mark vs. Horizon teams.

The Titans are 30-123 all-time against the Big Ten Conference – 12-81 on the road – and have dropped 18 in a row against the league. The last win was at Michigan State, 68-65, on Dec. 13, 1997.

Wisconsin Notes

Wisconsin is 79-23 (.775) in regular season, non-conference games under Gard.

Wisconsin is 9-1 in non-conference play this season and has the chance to post double-digit out of conference wins for the first time since going 11-2 in 2016-17. The Badgers have tallied four non-conference wins over Power 5 teams, their most since 2018-19.

Wisconsin ranks 11th in the nation with an adjusted offensive efficiency of 120.1 per KenPom – through games played Dec. 18. This year’s adjusted offensive efficiency rating of 120.1 ranks as the school’s third-highest mark since KenPom began tracking in 1999.

UW is averaging 15.2 assists per game, its most since 1993-94, while turning the ball over 9.6 times per game. UW has never had a season in which it has averaged 15+ assists per game while remaining below 10 turnovers per contest.

Wisconsin leads the NCAA in free throw percentage, 84.8% FT (234-for-276) at the line. UW has nearly made more FTs (234) than its foes have attempted (237) this season.

Detroit Mercy Notes

With 11 new players on the 15-man roster, the Titans returned just 14.2 percent of their scoring, 12.9 percent of their rebounding, and 18.0 percent of their minutes played from last season.

The Titans snapped a 22-game road slide with a win at Ball State on November 20.

UDM posted four wins in November, the most in the month since going 4-3 at the start of the 2017-18 season

Detroit Mercy has owned the glass this year, outrebounding its opponents in nine of its 13 games. The Titans are 52nd in the country with 13.2 offensive boards and 74th in DI with a +5.4 rebounding average.

UDM has a 173-107 margin on second-chance points on the season.

Prediction

Calling out a play that involves Crowl getting an early shot attempt in the low post is nothing new for Gard. Off the top of his head, he estimates that getting the ball to Crowl in the low post within Wisconsin’s first three offensive possessions happens 90 percent of the time.

But after being publicly called out by his coach and pushed to be more aggressive by his teammates, Wisconsin intentionally made a call to get Crowl the ball near the low block on the first possession. Seeing him convert by being physical with his back to the basket, unleashing a spin move for an easy bucket was the positive response the staff was looking for.

Crowl’s season-high 18 points against Butler were a catalyst in breaking a three-game losing skid. He did it playing aggressively and in short spurts, playing in just 17 minutes (second-fewest of the season) and going 7-for-10 from the floor (second-most attempts of the year).

“It’s a credit to him,” Gard said. “The 17 minutes that he had, he took full advantage of those.”

The renewed play of Crowl and the growth of Nolan Winter could give Wisconsin a punch to the offense it hasn’t had through the first two months of the season. Crowl and Winter had only reached double figures in the same game once until last Saturday. The duo combined for 38 points and their play helped Wisconsin outscore Butler, 40-to-24, in the paint, its third-highest total for the season and the second-highest paint-scoring differential.

“They play and have pride in playing for what’s on the front of the jersey, knowing that the back of the jersey will get taken care of,” Gard said. “You really get individual accolades through team success. I don’t see a lot of MVP awards being handed out to an 8-25 team.”

Getting to 8-25 would be a huge step forward for Detroit Mercy, which opened last season with a 26-game losing streak and finished 1-31, the worst record in Division-1. Hiring Michigan State assistant Mark Montgomery, who has coached with Tom Izzo on two different occasions, the Titans run some patterns similar to the Spartans in addition to executing three-quarters court pressure and zone.

The Titans also have a good player in Lovejoy, as the transfer from Eastern Michigan is one of 10 Division 1 players who averages 13.7 points, 4.4 rebounds, 4.4 assists, and 1.9 steals per game. Detroit ranks 54th nationally in rebounding, averaging just under 40 per game. The problem the Titans are facing is health, as the Titans have three rotation players averaging at least 8.9 ppg out with injuries. The Titans played 10 student-athletes at NKU, six of those were freshmen who accounted for 101 of the 200 minutes as well as 38 of the 60 points and 22 of the 34 boards.

Wisconsin should handle an undermanned unit, as long as the Badgers aren’t overly rusty from finals week.

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Wisconsin

Wisconsin Lottery Powerball, Pick 3 results for June 24, 2026

Published

8 hours ago

June 25, 2026

Press Room

Wisconsin Lottery Powerball, Pick 3 results for June 24, 2026

The Wisconsin Lottery offers multiple draw games for those aiming to win big.

Here’s a look at June 24, 2026, results for each game:

Winning Powerball numbers from June 24 drawing

13-14-16-21-38, Powerball: 14, Power Play: 2

Check Powerball payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Pick 3 numbers from June 24 drawing

Midday: 1-3-4

Evening: 7-7-3

Check Pick 3 payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Pick 4 numbers from June 24 drawing

Midday: 4-2-3-3

Evening: 1-5-4-6

Check Pick 4 payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning All or Nothing numbers from June 24 drawing

Midday: 02-07-08-09-12-13-14-16-18-19-20

Evening: 02-03-04-05-09-16-17-18-19-21-22

Check All or Nothing payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Badger 5 numbers from June 24 drawing

06-22-24-27-31

Check Badger 5 payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning SuperCash numbers from June 24 drawing

09-17-27-29-31-38, Doubler: N

Check SuperCash payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Megabucks numbers from June 24 drawing

01-08-12-24-26-27

Check Megabucks payouts and previous drawings here.

Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results

Are you a winner? Here’s how to claim your lottery prize

Prizes up to $599: Can be claimed at any Wisconsin Lottery retailer.
Prizes from $600 to $199,999: Can be claimed in person at a Lottery Office. By mail, send the signed ticket and a completed claim form available on the Wisconsin Lottery claim page to: Prizes, PO Box 777 Madison, WI 53774.
Prizes of $200,000 or more: Must be claimed in person at the Madison Lottery office. Call the Lottery office prior to your visit: 608-261-4916.

Can Wisconsin lottery winners remain anonymous?

No, according to the Wisconsin Lottery. Due to the state’s open records laws, the lottery must, upon request, release the name and city of the winner. Other information about the winner is released only with the winner’s consent.

When are the Wisconsin Lottery drawings held?

Powerball: 9:59 p.m. CT on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday.
Mega Millions: 10:00 p.m. CT on Tuesday and Friday.
Super Cash: 9:00 p.m. CT daily.
Pick 3 (Day): 1:30 p.m. CT daily.
Pick 3 (Evening): 9:00 p.m. CT daily.
Pick 4 (Day): 1:30 p.m. CT daily.
Pick 4 (Evening): 9:00 p.m. CT daily.
All or Nothing (Day): 1:30 p.m. CT daily.
All or Nothing (Evening): 9 p.m. CT daily.
Megabucks: 9:00 p.m. CT on Wednesday and Saturday.
Badger 5: 9:00 p.m. CT daily.

That lucky feeling: Peek at the past week’s winning numbers.

Feeling lucky? WI man wins $768 million Powerball jackpot **

WI Lottery history: Top 10 Powerball and Mega Million jackpots

This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a Wisconsin editor. You can send feedback using this form.

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Wisconsin

Top 100 Prospect Visiting Wisconsin on Wednesday

Published

18 hours ago

June 24, 2026

Press Room

Top 100 Prospect Visiting Wisconsin on Wednesday

Badger Blitz Basketball Recruiting

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Wisconsin

How Decelise Champion’s early arrival impacts Wisconsin volleyball

Published

1 day ago

June 24, 2026

Press Room

How Decelise Champion’s early arrival impacts Wisconsin volleyball

Decelise Champion, a star volleyball recruit from Puerto Rico, has reclassified and will join the Wisconsin Badgers in 2026 instead of 2027.
Wisconsin coach Kelly Sheffield praised Champion’s potential, which is “as high as about anybody we’ve ever brought in.”
Champion will join a competitive group of pin-hitters on the 2026 roster after her Puerto Rico senior national team commitments conclude.

MADISON – Kelly Sheffield has coached All-Americans, national players of the year, national champions and future Olympians in his 13 years as Wisconsin volleyball coach.

So Sheffield’s unique praise of Decelise Champion – a star pin-hitter from Puerto Rico who committed to the Badgers last fall – carries a lot of weight.

“Her highest-end potential is certainly as high as about anybody we’ve ever brought in,” Sheffield said. “She’s got a lot of work to get to where she’s capable of, and that’s on us as coaches and on her to help reach those dreams and goals. But when you’re watching people around her age, she’s different.”

That work is beginning earlier than initially expected after Wisconsin announced that Champion will reclassify from the 2027 recruiting class and join the Badgers as a freshman for the 2026 season.

Champion – currently 16 years old and turning 17 in September – will arrive with a resume that includes experience on Puerto Rico’s senior national team and the elite Italian club Volleyro Casal de Pazzi. That’s all while being strong enough academically to earn a GED degree and the necessary NCAA waiver for a few missing core classes.

“What made it really a lot better is that all of her grades at the different schools she’s been at have been fantastic,” Sheffield said. “She’s an excellent student. Was crushing it at a really, really good academic school in Italy in her third language.”

The timing of the June 12 announcement accounted for the second-last open roster spot for the 2026 season, but Champion and UW’s efforts to make the reclassification possible go back much earlier than that.

“We’ve known she’s wanted to do this since February,” Sheffield said. “We told our team in February that was the plan. And then we didn’t let anybody know publicly until she was done with her season. She just didn’t want to be a distraction for her team.”

Badgers have even more competition at pins

Wisconsin already had plenty of competition at the pin-hitting positions before Champion’s move to the 2026 class.

Grace Egan had a major role on the 2025 Final Four team, and Eva Travis had an impressive spring after transferring from UC-Santa Barbara. Others include Grace Lopez, Madison Quest and the highly-touted freshman duo of Halle Thompson and Audrey Flanagan.

Even with the upcoming addition of one more pin-hitter – and one with such a high potential – UW did not lose any players in the spring transfer portal cycle. Even the idea of someone leaving seemed outlandish to Sheffield.

“If they’re just going to get up and leave because somebody came, I would say that that person is probably chicken s—,” Sheffield said.

Sheffield’s praise of Champion’s proposal obviously does not come with a guarantee of playing time either at the crowded pin-hitting positions.

“I would say, yeah, she does have a chance of being out on the court for us this year,” Sheffield said. “But we’ve also got some other really talented people that play the pins.”

The outside and right-side hitters already on UW’s spring roster will have at least one key advantage over Champion in her freshman season – time.

Egan, Lopez and Quest are returning players (although Egan and Lopez spent their spring recovering from injuries). Travis, Thompson and Flanagan all enrolled in time to spend the spring with the Badgers and impressed in UW’s spring matches.

Champion’s arrival, on the other hand, will follow her participation in an Olympic-qualifying event for Puerto Rico. Sheffield expects that to be Sept. 2, which is the day before fall classes begin and already after UW’s first four matches of the season.

“She’ll be drinking out of a fire hose early on, no doubt about it,” Sheffield said. “Even though she’s been playing with her senior national team this summer, it will be a lot of things coming at her in her secondary language at 16, so there’ll need to be some patience along the way.”

His advice to Champion when she was on campus earlier in June was to “be where your feet are.”

“When she’s with her national team – even though we will have started our preseason, playing matches – don’t worry about us here,” Sheffield said. “Be where your feet are. Be the best you can be for your team there. … Then when you get here, you’re not thinking about your national team.”

Champion’s NCAA eligibility clock starts earlier

Champion’s reclassification comes with the drawback of beginning her NCAA eligibility one year earlier in her volleyball career.

Had she stayed in the 2027 recruiting class, she theoretically would have begun her college career shortly before her 18th birthday and exhausted her eligibility at age 22. Instead, she will begin her college career shortly before her 17th birthday and likely exhaust her eligibility at age 21.

Those scenarios take into account the NCAA Division I Cabinet’s unanimous approval on June 23 of a new eligibility model that will give players five seasons of eligibility in five years. (That replaces the current system with four seasons, redshirts and other waivers.) The NCAA noted that its decision is not final, however, until the meeting concludes on June 24.

“We’re certainly excited to have her this year, but if you kind of think over the course of five years, it’s probably worse for us that she comes a year early,” Sheffield said. “You expect her to be better at 20 and 21 than what she is at 16 or 17. … It really wasn’t something that we were pushing for, but she was ready.”

Of course, volleyball at age 16 or 17 looks different for someone like Champion who has been competing against much older players as a senior national team member and studying halfway across the world from her hometown of Dorado, Puerto Rico.

“When you talk to her, she doesn’t come across as somebody who’s 16,” Sheffield said. “She’s very mature, very easy to talk to, very driven. She’s independent. … She’s had a lot more life experience than most people her age, and that certainly comes across when you’re around her.”

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